Brian May has honored Hilton Valentine, the late guitarist from The Animals. Hilton passed away last Friday at 77.
May says in 1964, "a revolutionary sound burst upon the airwaves ... 'The House of the Rising Sun,' an immortal record made by The Animals and it really was totally revolutionary in its time because English pop music was not like that. It was very fluffy and rather lovely and melodic and sweet, but it didn't have the passion that ['Rising Sun'] had.
He adds, "These guys from the north and the Midlands of England didn't care about English music that much. What they loved was the music of the black blues men, who put into their music a passion and a feel and an urgency which really wasn't known in England at that time…”
[Source: Classic Hits Today]